Drinking buddies Ed Sheeran and Russell Crowe invest in Irish distillery

Singer Ed Sheeran and Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe, who co-founded a company called MLM Distillery Investments, along with comedian Jimmy Carr and singer Ronan Keating, have invested about $793,000 in Co Donegal’s Muff Liquor Company’s parent company, Vega & Wallace.

The distillery sells gins and vodkas and broke into whiskey production in 2023.

MLM acquires Muff Liquor shares

The quartet of celebrities that founded MLM brought agent Noel Kelly on board to broker the deal, which totals about 30 percent of Muff Liquor’s shares.

According to Laura Bonner, Muff Liquor founder, and CEO, the company opened itself to investors in 2022, with the window closing on Christmas Eve. The investment funds were to be used chiefly for marketing and dry goods.

The Muff Liquor Australia launch

The company launched in Australia in partnership with Coles supermarket group and its First Choice Liquor brand on March 1, with Bonner making an in-person appearance.

“Our plan then is to get into the US market,” Bonner announced.

“We are a scaling start-up, but we have had two and a half years of pandemic, so we are taking it step by step,” the CEO continued.

The company’s vision for expansion

In addition to the company’s hope to expand to the American market, Bonner also revealed the company’s plans to open a distillery and visitor center in Muff, Co Donegal, but it was presenting some challenges.

“It is so expensive,” she lamented.

At the event in Australia, Bonner was asked about broadcaster Laura Whitmore, who had previously been an investor in Muff Liquor, as she had left the company in August 2022.

“We left on really good terms,” Bonner commented.

Sheeran and Crowe old drinking buddies

The Hollywood celebs are set to take on a project of global proportions significant enough to threaten even Scotch Whiskey, as the new company they’ve invested in has big plans to expand from Ireland to Australia, to the United States.

Ed Sheeran, who has a history of being drinking buddies with Russell Crowe, has an Irish background, with many cousins from west Cork, and an aunt in Baltimore. New Zealander Russell Crowe grew up in Australia but has always had an appreciation for good whiskey.

The 31-year-old singer and the 58-year-old actor have an unlikely friendship, despite the difference in their ages.

“I’ve started hanging out with Russell Crowe because he loves getting drunk and I love getting drunk,” Sheeran said in 2017.

“We don’t get anything from each other, other than just a night out,” he said.